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This page is within the scope of WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles that are spoken on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Spoken WikipediaWikipedia:WikiProject Spoken WikipediaTemplate:WikiProject Spoken WikipediaSpoken Wikipedia articles
This WikiProject has recently been revived. Please expect certain pages to be moved, created or deleted. Feel free to ask questions on the project talk page. If you have more questions, please ask the project coordinator, Galendalia on their talk page.
In this project, WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia aims to produce recordings of Wikipedia articles being read aloud. See the spoken articles for articles that have already been recorded, and the requests for instructions on how to request a recording of a particular article.
Here are just some reasons why it is worthwhile creating spoken recordings of articles.
Spoken articles make Wikipedia content available to those who can understand English but cannot read it.
Users can listen to Wikipedia articles while they perform tasks that preclude reading but not concentration (such as running, or housework).
Visually impaired users can use screen readers, but they may not be as accurate as human vocal performance. This is particularly true of articles relating to science, mathematics, linguistics, and other areas commonly requiring unusual or unfamiliar pronunciation, or the use of symbols.
They are a valuable learning tool for those learning English. If a link is given to the version of the page that was recorded then users may listen to the words while reading them.
They are a valuable learning tool for auditory learners (people who learn most effectively by listening to information delivered orally).
Some may find it easier to concentrate on an article while listening to it, especially in an environment with distracting sounds (with the use of headphones).
In performing the articles aloud, readers can catch inconsistencies, redundancies, and awkward phrases not noticed by other editors, thus improving the written version of Wikipedia.
A few caveats!
However, the project does have some difficulties and drawbacks that one should be aware of:
Recording and editing articles can be time-consuming, and recordings are sometimes abandoned or have their source text dramatically changed before they are finished. It helps to start with smaller, more manageable articles first and then move up to bigger ones.
Incorrect pronunciation can mislead non-English-speaking users. This can be solved by looking up the pronunciation for words before performing the recording.
There are several audio formats supported by MediaWiki, the software behind Wikipedia:
Ogg Vorbis: Although it's neither very well supported (see Help:Media) nor lossless, it's recommended for recording articles. Small files with high audio quality can be produced using Ogg Vorbis, which makes them easy to be up- and downloaded and respectively streamed, even with a slow Internet connection.
WAV (PCM): The well-known wave format. It is supported by nearly every browser and media player but it produces huge files. The file size limit may pose an issue here. For the pronunciation of single words, it is however suitable at its best.
FLAC: It is lossless (this means you can edit it as often as you need to without losing quality) and compressed, but still produces large files.
Note that software called TimedMediaHandler that runs on Wikipedia's servers will automatically convert your uploaded audio files into different file formats for best compatibility and user experience.
To maintain a consistent vocal sound and to avoid the degradation in sound quality that comes from re-editing compressed audio files, edits to an existing recording should be done by the original recorder. Thus, in cases where a recording needs to be modified and the original recorder is not available to do it, the recording may need to be re-recorded entirely or removed.
Wikipedia articles are constantly evolving; once created, audio versions become less and less accurate when compared with the current article. This can be solved with updated audio recordings.
There is no way to follow or indicate links, although Audio Hyperlinks is one possible solution.
Alternatives
For people wishing to listen to articles that don't yet have a spoken version:
Software that converts text to voice is readily available and can be easily used to read out Wikipedia pages on-the-fly. See screen reader.
The web-based Pediaphon service uses speech synthesis to generate MP3 audio files and podcasts of Wikipedia articles in different languages.
